Jon Turteltaub

Cool Runnings (1993)

Cool Runnings (1993)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, December 2019) There’s one theory of comedy that states that it comes from the surprise of matching two disparate ideas, and if you agree with that then it’s easy to see why Cool Runnings is amusing even from its premise. What if tropical Jamaica decided to field a bobsled team at the Winter Olympics? It’s not that ridiculous a premise (Jamaica has often competed in the winter Olympics, albeit not competitively—but you can see how athletes can adapt their physical abilities to other sports if they can train where there’s ice and snow) but such nuances are not the kind of material that Cool Runnings goes for—it will spend the strict minimum amount of time to justify its premise (loosely inspired by real-life events) and no more. Far more of a comedy than a sports movie, this is not about the Jamaican team winning against impossible odds, but never giving up all the way to an honourable finish. Helmed according to a strictly competent formula by Jon Turteltaub, the film hits its targets and makes good use of its element. The Jamaican atmosphere is convincing, and the use of reggae music does pleasantly permeate the film. As a Canadian, I was surprisingly pleased by many specific elements of the film. True to its inspiration, it takes place at the 1988 Calgary Olympic games, leading to the curiously nostalgic sight of an old-school Coles airport bookstore. John Candy also stars as a disgraced coach in one of his last films, leading further Canadian credentials to the results. While Cool Runnings is very much in the safe mainstream comedy film tradition, it does everything right, is funny when it counts and has the good sense to go for uplifting underdog inspiration as its climax. Not a great film, but one that can be watched easily enough by the entire family.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, May 2019) It’s amazing how many romantic movies are built on a foundation of aberrant behaviour. At least While You Were Sleeping acknowledges that issue in the complications that follow when a lonely woman sets herself up as the fiancé of a man in a coma, and finds herself embraced by the rest of his family. It is, to be fair, a small triumph of execution from director Jon Turteltaub that the film comes across as sweet and romantic rather than problematic and stalkerish—although the filmmaking team wisely nixed the original idea that saw the roles gender-flipped. It certainly helps that the female lead here is Sandra Bullock in one of her breakthrough performances: she sells the “cute lonely girl” element essential for the film’s success, and having Pull Pullman as the true male lead also contributes. It’s all very familiar but well executed (with the tick-tick-ticking time bomb of the upcoming revelation adding dramatic tension), wrapped in Chicago flavour and set in the Christmas/New Year timeframe as a further excuse to be indulgent. While You Were Sleeping is still very much not a kind of behaviour to imitate in real life, but it’ll pass as a 1990s excuse for a romantic comedy.

The Meg (2018)

The Meg (2018)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, March 2019) I must have read Steve Alten’s Meg two decades ago and it remains a memorable thriller. (Poke around this site, and you can read my review, then my progressive disenchantment with the rest of Alten’s increasingly unhinged bibliography.) Ever since, I’ve been paying attention to every hint and rumours about a film production. Like most long-gestating movie projects, it seemed consigned to development hell and inglorious failure—even when it involved the unlikely figure of a first-generation movie-site webmaster as producer. After a very long and chaotic development process, a film called The Meg finally made it on-screen. Alas, fans will have to be generous in finding traces of the original novel in the movie adaptation. A gigantic prehistoric shark escaped from the depths? Yes. Everything else? Not so much. Which may not be a problem by itself—given two decades’ progress in digital special effects, even the wild action sequences of the novel can be “improved” with more craziness. Much of the credit for the film’s existence goes to its Chinese investors and their impact is almost impossible to ignore in the finished film, considering that it takes place in south-eastern Asian waters with location-appropriate subplots and a few Asian actors including the very cute Binbing Li. Finally, there’s the lead action hero factor—Jason Statham usually plays the same persona no matter the film, so it’s natural (I didn’t say “preferable”) that the script be tailored to his specifications. So, what do we get? Well, a decent action spectacle for one thing: Statham hasn’t been in many big-budget films of late (Fast and Furious films aside), so that’s interesting even if it downplays his usual macho heroics—you can’t really punch a skyscraper-sized shark in the mouth, right? Even with those changes, I’m relatively content by the results. I liked the initial atmosphere of the film, what with its high-tech research setting, cast of character and inventive adventures. It’s hardly perfect, of course: in the quest for a summer blockbuster, the “scientists” aren’t particularly smart, and the film can’t help but keep a few howlers for dramatic effect, including a massive shark sneaking up on a research station that would presumably have a sonar and other tracking mechanisms. Still, there’s been many aquatic-creature thrillers in the past few years and this one is better than most: veteran director Jon Turteltaub clearly understands that scale matters, and so does a big budget. He also knows how to build thrills rather than horror—compare The Meg’s beach sequence with the one in Piranha in an object lesson on how to build a tense sequence without veering into disgusting horror. No, The Meg is not Meg put on screen as faithfully as possible. But I’m not complaining.

Last Vegas (2013)

Last Vegas (2013)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Video on Demand, February 2014) Hollywood is growing old alongside a significant proportion of its audience, so it’s not surprising to find more and more movies aimed at older audiences. Suffice to say that Last Vegas is at least better than The Expendables series is confronting how yesterday’s superstars can go gently into semi-retirement. Focusing on four older men coming to spend a wild weekend in Vegas to celebrate one of their own’s nuptials to a (much) younger woman, Last Vegas soon turns to debauchery of a gentle kind, winking in The Hangover‘s direction without quite committing to such outrageousness. It’s sort-of-hypocritical to see stars like Michael Douglas and Robert de Niro (both of whom married significantly younger women) espouse the rightness of marrying age-appropriately, but when the object of their affection is the astonishingly good-looking Mary Steenburgen (still seven years their junior, one notes), it’s hard to complain that much. It helps that the film has a middle-of-the-road comic sensibility, amusing without being outrageous, and carefully pacing its development to gently lull viewers to a surprise-free climax. Kevin Kline and Morgan Freeman provide able supporting performances in filling an aging brat-pack. De Niro sort-of reprises his tough-guy persona (De Niro scholars are already talking about the self-referential second half of his career), Douglas oozes a slightly-oily charm, Kline does fine comic work, while Freeman is fun just being Freeman. Director Jon Turteltaub faithfully directs a decently-structured but timid script, and Vegas’s attractions do the rest. Last Vegas doesn’t amount to much, and that’s probably the point: this is mass-market comedy aiming older, and there’s no need to be bold or outrageous when nostalgia and gentle chuckles will keep the target audience happy. So it goes that the film is light entertainment, almost instantly forgettable but decently pleasant while it plays.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, July 2010) There’s a lot of generic familiarity in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but don’t despair yet: Under Jon Turteltaub’s sure-footed direction, genre-aware script and quirky performances, this fantasy film actually manages to save itself from embarrassment.  Nicolas Cage fans won’t be disappointed by his portrayal of an eccentric sorcerer, while Jay Baruchel more than holds his own as a sympathetic science nerd turned magician.  (Plus: Monica Bellucci, even in a too-brief role.)  There is a lot of special-effects eye candy, and as many different magic tricks as the first four Harry Potter movies combined.  New York locations are effectively exploited, whereas the editing finds a good pace.  But never mind the technical credentials: The real charm of the film is to be found in the script, which correctly assumes that we’ve seen a lot of movies of this type: as a result, a significant portion of the required exposition is sarcastically telescoped.  (The best instance of this happens during the obligatory but well-handled car chase, as Cage’s character quickly deals with his apprentice’s questions without even waiting for him to ask them.)  The one sequence that really doesn’t fit tonally with the rest of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a too-goofy clean-up scene that pays homage to the Fantasia animated segment of the same title without bothering to rein in the CGI excesses.  Both Baruchel and Cage are oddball enough that they can do justice to their respective characters and if their delivery could occasionally be improved, the net effect is a film-long smile.  Baruchel, in particular, has an irresistible puppy-dog charm –especially when he comes to enjoy his magical talents.  Frankly, it’s hard to resist a protagonist who charges into the final battle shouting something like “I came armed with SCIENCE!”  For a film that could have been considerably dourer, there’s a refreshing competence at play in this latest Bruckheimer vehicle that is enough to make us forget about the familiarity of it all.